Elsie Adamo
MOUNT Gambier police held their first Neighbourhood Watch meeting this week for businesses, following concerns about the prevalence of shoplifting.
Held on Wednesday night, business owners, managers and community members were invited to attend the discussions at the Italo Australian Club.
Following the discussions, the group of 11 business representatives in attended decided not to set up a formal Neighbourhood Watch program at this stage, but to continue informal discussions next year.
An informal group will negate paperwork and formalised roles while still being able to have consultations with local police, but will not have access to formalised support from a dedicated team in Adelaide.
Those present expressed their desire to formalise the group next year, after more interest from the business community was generated.
Neighbourhood Police Officer Constable Chelsea McKinnon said the meeting was set up to help facilitate a discussion between business and local police on strategies to curb crime.
“I am hoping to link everyone in and keep everyone in the loop about what is going on for us,” Cst McKinnon said.
The meeting discussed the possibility of creating a private Facebook or WhatsApp group for business owners and managers to easily exchange information when incidents happen, or to share prevention tactics.
“For example, is someone did try to attempt to steal something from a store, they could get on the WhatsApp and share that information,” Cst McKinnon said.
At the meeting, local business owners expressed a desire to learn more about prevention tactics, as well as education on the appropriate way to interact with shoplifters.
Police present at the meeting warned about inappropriate use of social media, such as publicly sharing images or videos online.
Cst McKinnon said as far as she was aware shoplifting was no more prevalent in Mount Gambier than other areas of the State.
Intersport owner David Jones was one of the business owners who voiced his support for starting the program and was in attendance on Wednesday.
“Shoplifting is very much a concern, at this time of year it can be huge,” Mr Jones said.
“We try to tell our staff to be vigilant and watch people, but there is only so much you can do.
“It puts a lot of pressure on the staff as well.”
Mr Jones indicated he had caught people attempting to shoplift in the last week.
Mount Gambier Chamber of Commerce President Hayley Neumann said she had received concerns from members about whether local police have done enough to help curb the problem of shoplifting and are looking for a more proactive solution.
An earlier meeting on the topic helped prompt the new program, after a crime and safety meeting organised by the chamber was attended by 40 business stakeholders from throughout the community.
“There had been some shoplifting around town, and businesses were putting videos and information on social media about it,” Ms Neumann said.
“We were concerned that there could be implications for the shop owners for doing that.
“We wanted to come together to discuss a solution, and while we had that meeting, SAPOL advised they were looking at having a Neighbourhood Watch program.”
Ms Neumann said she is hopeful the meeting will lead to a more cohesive approach to the issue.
“Hopefully businesses have some resources against shoplifting, and a way to communicate to other businesses in the area,” Ms Neumann said.
“It will hopefully help us keep an eye out for each other.”
The next meeting will be held in February.
